"No."
"Chester."
The whole burden was to rest on him after all.
Joe blushed to the very roots of his hair, and without glancing up,
answered bravely, "Yes, sir."
There was a little pause, followed by a suppressed buzz of surprise;
then Mr. Bernard proceeded with the roll.
Again Drayton's name was called; and, as before, he answered boldly,
"No."
No one but Joe Chester in all the school knew aught of the
mischief-maker.
The ledger was returned to its place in the desk, and leaving the room
in charge of Mr. Andrews, one of the head-teachers, Mr. Bernard retired
to his study, and summoned poor Joe for an interview.
The boy turned as pale as he had been rosy, as he passed up the room and
across the platform to the door of the study, and disappeared.
"Little Chester, after all!" said some.
"Ain't I glad I am not Joe Chester?" and similar expressions, were
exchanged by the boys, until Mr. Andrews began to distribute black
marks, which had a tendency to restore order, as a certain number of
these marks would prevent participation in the summer gipsying, and some
of the boys were alarmingly near the limit.
The eighty-five tongues were stilled, but twice eighty-five eyes were
continually straying towards the study door behind the desk. In the
meantime, Drayton could only conceal his anxiety and alarm by pretending
to be very much engaged looking up a Latin translation, while all the
time he was saying over and over to himself, "Joe promised to be mum!
Joe promised to be mum!" and the minutes seemed hours.
"What could teacher and scholar be doing?"
The boys were all asking themselves that question, as they studied, or
tried to study, in obedience to Mr. Andrews's orders.
It was a full hour before Joe appeared and came across the platform.
He did not glance up as he came down the room, and hastily seated
himself, bending over his book, with both hands thrust through his short
curls.
Mr. Bernard did not appear at once, and the lessons went on as usual.
When the usual hour for closing came, Mr. Bernard addressed the school
again:--
"I am aware that among boys there is a code of honour in regard to
information that will implicate a companion, and I have respect for it;
but in this case, if the boy who is guilty will not confess, I deem it
my duty to the school to hunt him down, and it seems to me that ordinary
scruples ought not to prevent justice. This lie rests like a cloud over
the whole school. Chester refuses to tell me what he knows."
A murmur of applause followed, but a heavy rap on the desk silenced it,
and Mr. Bernard continued:--
"I am sorry to add, that unless the guilty boy is manly enough to save
him by confessing his guilt, Chester must lose his fortnight in camp."
An audible "Oh no!" followed this. But Joe's voice did not join in the
murmur; he only bent a little lower over his book, and looked steadily
at the page without seeing a word upon it.
"You are dismissed."
The bell gave the signal for each class, and the boys passed out in an
orderly way; but once outside there was a shout, "Chester! Chester!"
As soon as he appeared he was seized by the crowd and borne on the
shoulders of his comrades to the centre of the playground, where all
began cheering and scolding him in the same breath.
"If any fellow is mean enough to keep still and let you bear the
punishment, he ought to be told on! I wouldn't keep his secret for him!"
exclaimed one of the older boys.
"I declare I didn't know we had such a mean fellow among us!" said
another.
"He must feel about the size of a dried pea about this time."
"But he won't be mean enough to let you stay behind and go himself to
camp out," said Fred Wurden, one of the quiet boys.
Some of the more impulsive boys cried, "If Joe can't go, we won't any of
us go!"
Joe said little, and went away to his room as soon as possible with
David Winter, his room-mate. Drayton had not joined the indignant crowd.
He and Ben Carver had an errand at the village, and hurried away; and
during the remainder of the term these two boys held themselves aloof
from the other boys, who were, however, too busy with their plans for
vacation to remark upon it.
Only once did Ralph and Joe meet alone, and then Ralph said, "I don't
know how this affair is to end, old boy; but I would rather be in your
shoes than mine."
"So would I!" exclaimed Joe heartily.
At length the examinations were over, and the last day of school was
about closing, when Mr. Bernard said, "To-morrow morning at six we are
to start for the Cape to take steamer for our island camp-ground.
Several boys will be left behind, having forfeited their pleasure.
Unless the boy who was guilty of the mischief, and the far greater crime
of hiding himself behind a lie, will confess, Joseph Chester must stay
behind."
There was a pause long enough to allow the guilty boy time to speak.
"There is time now for the guilty boy or boys to speak."
No voice answered, and the silence grew painful.
Then Mr. Bernard said, "Chester, my boy, unless you receive other orders
you will remain behind. This, I think you know, gives me more pain than
it does you, and I am sure you understand why I deem it necessary."
Chester bowed, and made a desperate effort to bear the sentence bravely,
but soon resorted to the old attitude, and sat staring blindly at his
book, with both elbows on the desk and both hands buried in his hair.
The boys passed out of the room when dismissed, and only Chester
remained behind with the teachers, who waited to speak with him; but
finding that he could not well bear their pity, and that his quivering
lips could not frame a reply, each expressed his regret at the
disappointment, and presently Joe occupied the room alone. Still he
showed no sign of moving after a half-hour had passed.
Presently the door opened and some one peeped in; then Joe heard a step
inside, and with the pretence of looking up a book on the different
desks, he stood a moment at Joe's side, and dropped a note on his open
Virgil, and then hastily retreated.